Largest Cities Throughout History

For each year listed, name the most populated city in the world.

Source

Countries listed are modern-day countries.

Main sources: Ian Morris (2010), George Modelski (2003), Tertius Chandler (1987), Multiple, and other.

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Last updated: February 11, 2021

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First submitted	February 11, 2021
Times taken	36
Average score	62.3%
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Year	Population	Country	City
7000 BC	1,000-2,000	Israel (Palestine)	Jericho
6700 BC	1,000	Jordan	Basta
6500 BC	5,000-10,000	Turkey	Çatalhöyük
6000 BC	3,000	Turkey	Çatalhöyük
4000 BC	4,000	Iraq	Eridu
3800-3700 BC	10,000	Ukraine	Dobrovody
3700 BC	6,000-10,000	Iraq	Eridu
3600-3500 BC	10,000	Ukraine	Maydanets
3500 BC	14,000	Iraq	Uruk
3300 BC	40,000	Iraq	Uruk
3200 BC	20,000	Egypt	Abydos
3100 BC	20,000	Egypt	Memphis
3000 BC	40,000-45,000	Iraq	Uruk
2800 BC	80,000	Iraq	Uruk
2500 BC	60,000	Iraq	Lagash
2400 BC	50,000	Syria	Mari
2300 BC	80,000	Iraq	Girsu
2250 BC	30,000	Egypt	Memphis
2240 BC	30,000	Iraq	Akkad
2200 BC	50,000	Iraq	Girsu
2100 BC	100,000	Iraq	Ur
2075 BC	50,000	Iraq	Girsu
2059 BC	50,000	Iraq	Girsu
2030 BC	50,000	Iraq	Ur
2000 BC	65,000	Iraq	Ur
1991 BC	65,000	Iraq	Ur
1980 BC	65,000	Egypt	Thebes
1900 BC	65,000	Egypt	Thebes
1800 BC	60,000	Syria	Mari
1770 BC	60,000	Iraq	Babylon
1770 BC	60,000	Iraq	Babylon
1670 BC	60,000	Egypt	Avaris
1650 BC	100,000	Egypt	Avaris
1600 BC	100,000	Egypt	Avaris
1557 BC	100,000	Egypt	Memphis
1500 BC	60,000-75,000	Egypt	Thebes
1400 BC	80,000-100,000	Egypt	Thebes
1300 BC	120,000	China	Yinxu
1205 BC	80,000	Egypt	Memphis
1200 BC	160,000	Egypt	Pi-Ramses
1188 BC	50,000	Egypt	Thebes
1184 BC	120,000	Egypt	Thebes
1100 BC	120,000	Egypt	Pi-Ramses & Thebes
1000 BC	100,000	China	Haojing
900 BC	125,000	China	Haojing
700 BC	100,000	Egypt	Thebes
668 BC	100,000	Iraq	Ninevah
650 BC	120,000	Iraq	Ninevah
612 BC	120,000	Iraq	Babylon
600 BC	100,000-200,000	Iraq	Babylon
562 BC	200,000	Iraq	Babylon
500 BC	150,000-200,000	Iraq	Babylon
400 BC	320,000	China	Xiadu
320 BC	300,000	Egypt	Alexandria
300 BC	500,000	Tunisia	Carthage
220 BC	300,000	India	Pataliputra
200 BC	300,000-600,000	Egypt	Alexandria
195 BC	400,000	China	Chang'an
100 BC	1,000,000	Egypt	Alexandria
25 BC	400,000	Italy	Rome
1 AD	400,000-1,000,000	Italy	Rome
100	45,000-1,000,000	Italy	Rome
180	600,000	Italy	Rome
200	600,000-1,200,000	Italy	Rome
280	500,000	Italy	Rome
300	500,000-1,000,000	Italy	Rome
340	500,000	Turkey	Constantinople
361	300,000	Turkey	Constantinople
400	500,000-800,000	Italy	Rome

Year	Population	Country	City
410	300,000	Turkey	Constantinople
500	400,000-500,000	Turkey	Constantinople
570	400,000	Iraq	Ctesiphon
575	500,000	Iraq	Ctesiphon
600	600,000	Turkey	Constantinople
622	500,000	Iraq	Ctesiphon
637	400,000	China	Chang'an
700	800,000-1,000,000	China	Chang'an
750	800,000	China	Chang'an
775	600,000	Iraq	Baghdad
800	800,000-1,000,000	China	Chang'an
833	900,000	Iraq	Baghdad
925	1,100,000	Iraq	Baghdad
935	350,000	Spain	Cordoba
1000	1,200,000	Iraq	Baghdad
1013	400,000	China	Kaifeng
1100	1,200,000	Iraq	Baghdad
1102	442,000	China	Kaifeng
1126	420,000	China	Kaifeng
1127	200,000	Turkey	Constantinople
1145	200,000	Turkmenistan	Merv
1153	200,000	Turkey	Constantinople
1170	200,000	Morocco	Fez
1180	200,000	China	Hangzhou
1200	255,000-1,000,000	China	Hangzhou
1210	600,000	Turkmenistan	Gurganj
1250	320,000	China	Hangzhou
1273	432,000	China	Hangzhou
1300	432,000-1,500,000	China	Hangzhou
1315	432,000	Egypt	Cairo
1325	500,000	Egypt	Cairo
1348	432,000	China	Hangzhou
1358	432,000	China	Jinling
1391	473,000	China	Jinling
1400	487,000-1,000,000	China	Jinling
1420	487,000	China	Jinling
1425	487,000	China	Beijing
1450	600,000	China	Beijing
1492	669,000	China	Beijing
1500	600,000-1,000,000	China	Beijing
1550	690,000	China	Beijing
1575	706,000	China	Beijing
1600	700,000-1,000,000	China	Beijing
1635	706,000	China	Beijing
1650	700,000	Turkey	Constantinople
1675	750,000	Turkey	Constantinople
1690	700,000-800,000	Turkey	Constantinople
1700	1,000,000	Thailand	Ayutthaya
1710	700,000	China	Beijing
1750	900,000	China	Beijing
1775	1,000,000	China	Beijing
1800	1,100,000	China	Beijing
1821	1,300,000	China	Beijing
1825	1,350,000	China	Beijing
1841	1,948,000	United Kingdom	London
1850	2,320,000	United Kingdom	London
1851	2,362,000	United Kingdom	London
1861	2,803,000	United Kingdom	London
1875	4,241,000	United Kingdom	London
1900	6,480,000-6,600,000	United Kingdom	London
1914	7,419,000	United Kingdom	London
1925	7,775,000	United States	New York
1936	10,150,000	United States	New York
1950	12,463,000	United States	New York
1965	15,000,000	Japan	Tokyo
1975	20,500,000	Japan	Tokyo
2000	26,400,000	Japan	Tokyo
2010	36,700,000	Japan	Tokyo
2020	37,393,000	Japan	Tokyo

Level 74

Feb 12, 2021

Interesting quiz. Are your sources credible? For instance, Uruk is biggest with 40,000 in 3300BC and again with 40-45,000 in 3000BC. But in between it's population has fallen to below 20,000. A similar fate befalls Chang'an in the 8th century AD but with an even less credible fall in population of over 200,000 and bounce-back to where it was before in just 50 years. Also Baghdad in the 10th century. Have you any way of checking?

Level 58

Feb 12, 2021

The issue with the source I used was that it was also according to three different historians opinions. The reason there were such fluctuations in population was because not every source had a city for each of the years - or that city was conquered by a large scale ancient or medieval raid :). Because of this I chose the one that was most believable (or most populated) or if any two sources agreed (these ones are marked in green) I chose that.

So that explains why the data may not be credible, but I tried my best!

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